pef427

Hey Guys.
I really dislike airing-out this type of business on the CF but all other attempts have failed.
I attended Vets and Jets On the Lex in Corpus Christi, Texas at the end of last summer. During the event my wife and I visited a booth staffed by Gulf Coast Vettes (not Gulf Coast Corvettes of Houston, great guys).
They were asking for people to purchase t-shirts in support of the USO. I purchased 2 shirts that said "got a vette?" with both dsvettes.com and gulfcoastvettes.com written underneath.
That evening we received a phone call telling us we had been drawn as the winners of their $350 gift certificate. They gave us their phone number and asked that we contact the owner Michael Barron the following Monday morning to arrange to collect the prize.
Since that time I have spoke with the owner Mike Barron @ 713-459-9700 on many occassions. He promised to have his people contact me to place my order. That never happened. I called back numerous times and he asked that I prepare a list of part numbers and email them so he could place my order. I then spent time looking these numbers up and even exceeded the amount of the GC and instructed them in the email that I would be glad to give them my CC# for the extra parts. I thought that it would be good to exceed their GC by $200-$300. STILL NO RESPONSE! Now when I call the number, which apparently is Mike Barron's cell number as well, I get to leave voice mails that go unanswered. I have also written a request to their "Contact Us" email without a response.
Does anyone have any knowledge of how to contact these people?

-Patrick
PS. This thread is on Southwest and C3 General sections. Lots of replies lead me to your section as he apparently sells here.

Duallyvette

I guess that you didn't really win. Perhaps its time for a FU message.

gbgary

sorry to hear it. nearly a year ago he auctioned off a pair of FRCs. i was the only bidder, i posted what he said he'd like to at least get, and i didn't win. haven't called him since.

HawaiiC6

Hate to see things like this go public, hopefully a mod will be able to have him respond to you. Hope things work out. If you bought the shirt under the pretense that you could win a contest and that they did not honor the GC then it is a scam. I would then wonder if the money really went to the USO.

1FunZ06

Just did a search for them and found their web site. Must say that it's not impressive.

GulfCoastVettes

Default Response to Mr. pflournoy@gt.rr.com
I am a staff member at Gulf Coast Vettes. Mr. Barron is out of the country until next week and his email has been forwarded to us to stay connected with our customers. In regards to mr. pflournoy@gt.rr.com's complaint, this is what i know and I'm sure Mr. Barron will have lots more to say about this upon his return.

pflournoy@gt.rr.com did in fact win the drawing for a gift certificate at the Vettes and Jets. The drawing was for a $100 gift certificate but if the winner came to the booth to claim his prize and was WEARING the "got a vette" t-shirts the gift certificate would be bumped up to $250. Apparently Mr. pflournoy@gt.rr.com did not wear the shirts and claim his certificate in person as he stated in his posts that he was on his way home. I also am aware that the certificate was for items we stock on our web site and Mr. pflournoy@gt.rr.com asked for items that we DO NOT CARRY or STOCK. I do know that Mr. Barron attempted to find the items that Mr. pflournoy@gt.rr.com requested, but was unable to locate the items he requested.

To resolve the situation, Gulf Coast Vettes will honor the original drawing award and that is $100 towards anything listed at www.gulfcoastvettes.com. Mr. pflournoy@gt.rr.com will be notified via email to this effect and be given the credit on his next order.

Gulf Coast Vettes has sold thousands of parts to satisfied customers all over the world and will continue to do so in the future.

As to the detective work done by members of the forum, all you had to do is pick up the phone and call us....713-304-3500....Geez, you guys make a mountain out of a mole hill and that is exactly why we don't spend as much time here as we used too. We feel our time is better spent helping our customers with their corvette needs and not defending what one irate member rants and raves about. I'm sure Michael may not approve of my response, but we have worked very hard to meet the needs of our customers and some members here look for every opportunity to lash out at supporting vendors who actually pay the bills to keep this forum open.

Barry

GulfCoastVettes

We have donated $575 to date on the shirts sold...just so you know...Barry

GulfCoastVettes

FYI - I was the employee that posted those FRC's sale and 22 people responded. We were notified that it was against forum rules to auction items so we sold the FRC to a local customer...your apology is accepted...BARRY

AORoads

I'm glad this matter was quickly responded to by the vendor. I can only hope this kind of miscommunication doesn't occur again.

I will also say that in one or two conversations that I had with Mike Barron, I found him to be honest and straightforward. As a matter of fact, he personally dissuaded me from making a $180 purchase from his company, saying it would not be worthwhile.

That's the kind of thing I don't easily forget.

NEV3R L8

Man Barry the guy just wanted some parts lol. I guess people have had a hard time getting a hold of vendors lately (or so I've read) and they like to jump to conclusions. Doesn't seem like anything personal guy just wanted some answers.

adias

Your public posting of the OP's email address (an item that should be confidential) instead of his CF handle is simply despicable!

The CF forum management should not allow this sort of behavior from a forum vendor.

MikeyTX

It took right at 1 hr for Berry to respond. That is a whole heck of a lot faster than many large corporations imho.

GulfCoastVettes

Again this is second hand, but I feel obligated to defend my boss. I know he worked hard to find the parts the gentleman requested but was unable to do so. He also stated that the gentleman wasn't entitled to $250 since he didn;t wear the shirts at the event. Hopefully when Michael returns, he'll just mail the guy $150 and call it even.
Barry

GulfCoastVettes

Really this was posted by another forum member on my bosses info...didn't seem to bother them that they posted his info...again thanks for playing..


Boy....I have no idea who you are dealing with. The phone number comes up for a lot of different things. Only Gulf Coast Vettes using that number has a Po box. Just google the cell number and you will come up with the following...

Gulf Coast Vettes, LLC
PO Box 590667
Houston, TX 77259
(713) 459-9700


Tel: +001 (713) 459-9700
Fax: +001 (303) 444-8736
Web: www.qttechnologies.com

Member Name: Mike Barron
Title:
Company: QT Technology
Company Type: Other
Address: 5605 MacArthur Blvd. #1105

City: Irving,
State: Texas
Zip: 75038
Direct Phone: 713-459-9700
Fax: FAX: 303-444-8736
Mobile Phone:
Pager:
Email: mbarron@AP-Tech.com
Web Site: http://www.qttechnologies.com

0Rage@AutoBuffs

Very true Sir, please don't forget, it's also the Forum members that buy your products that keep you in business! Not always good to bite the hand that feeds you.

GulfCoastVettes

You may have a point...but experience has proven that those who raise the most hell here actually buy very little if anything. Their goal is to create as much controversy as possible and sit back and watch the fireworks fly. This is the final post we'll post here. I sincerely hope that Gulf Coast Vette customers that have any REAL concerns in the future please call our customer service line Monday-Friday, 8-5 Central time, at 713-304-3500.

02-z28

What an arrogant attitude...

User 020720

Yeah really makes you feel good doesn't it?

HuskerBullet

It's all about communication. As customer's, we are scammed or screwed sometime or other in some way. But, most of the time, the problem is a lack of communication from the vendor.

Granted, the Vette owner may not have read all the stipulations or any "fine print" a vendor has with their products, but when the customer makes a number of attempts to contact the vendor, and the vendor never responds to explain or straighten out the customer, then the customer has no choice but to feel they have been screwed.

I personally have emailed and left phone messages to vendors just to ask questions about their products before I buy, technical or otherwise. Guess what? Not all, but there are a number where I have never received a single response after many attempts. Not just vendors here on the forum, because I think that most here are responsive (but not all), but other vendors not here on this forum.

If you are a vendor that is in business to make money from customer's like us and do not respond to a customer at all, you as the vendor have no idea how much that one customer can do business damage by forums like this one (as seen across the U.S. and Canada) and by word-of-mouth to their buddies....and to their buddies, and so forth.

As an owner of a business (which I'm not), any of my employees that is responsible for addressing customer's questions or needs, whether bad or good, and does not respond to the customer, would be fired. Again, it could just be a matter of miscommunication, no problem, just iron it out. But for a lack of communicaiton, to not respond at all, as Trump says, "You're Fired!"

I'm not saying the customer was in the right, I'm saying it's the vendors' duty to respond to the customer.

socalenergyman

Why is it that on this forum the vendor is the almighty and the customer is always made out to be wrong....wheather its because the Vendor won't respond or there staff gives out the wrong info,how in the heck does this make the paying customer always look wrong...Man up... and stop the excuses ,GEEZ all you had to do is return his call,oh wait,maybe he wasnt that important since it wasnt a 1000 dollar order... no wonder american buisness is falling..Ok fine,bring on the flamming.